Massacre of Glencoe

Massacre of Glencoe
Part of Jacobite rising of 1689
After the Massacre of Glencoe, Peter Graham
Date 13 February 1692 Location Glen Coe, Argyll, Scotland
Belligerents
Kingdom of Scotland	Clan MacDonald of Glencoe
Commanders and leaders
Major Duncanson Captain Glenlyon Colonel Hamilton Colonel Hill	Alasdair MacIain
Strength
920	Unknown
Casualties and losses
None	About 30 killed[1]

The Massacre of Glencoe^[a] took place in Glen Coe in the Highlands of Scotland on 13 February 1692. An estimated 30 members and associates of Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were killed by Scottish government forces, allegedly for failing to pledge allegiance to the new monarchs, William III and Mary II.

By May 1690, the Jacobite rising of 1689 had largely been suppressed, but unrest in the Highlands consumed military resources needed by the Scottish government for the Nine Years' War in Flanders. In late 1690, it agreed to pay the Jacobite clans a total of £12,000 in return for an oath of loyalty to William and Mary, however, disagreements among the chiefs over its division meant by December 1691 none of them had taken the oath.

Under English pressure to ensure the deal was adopted, Secretary of State Lord Stair decided to make an example of the MacDonalds as a warning of the consequences for further delay. The Glencoe MacDonalds were not the only ones who failed to meet the deadline, as the Keppoch MacDonalds did not swear until early February. The precise reasons why they were selected for punishment are still debated, but appear to have been a combination of internal clan politics, and a reputation for lawlessness that made them an easy target.

While similar events had been relatively common in earlier Scottish history, this was no longer the case by 1692, and the brutality of the massacre shocked contemporaries. It became a significant element in the persistence of Jacobitism in the Highlands during the first half of the 18th century, and remains a powerful symbol to this day.

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